| Vicarious 1. (prep.) Acting of suffering for another; as, a parent living vicariously through a child. 2. (prep.) of or pertaining to a vicar, substitute, or deputy; deputed; delegated; as, vicarious power or authority. 3. (prep.) Performed of suffered in the place of another; substituted; as, a vicarious sacrifice; vicarious punishment. 4. (prep.) Acting as a substitute; -- said of abnormal action which replaces a suppressed normal function; as, vicarious hemorrhage replacing menstruation. Thesaurus Entries alternate, alternative, assigned, backup, commissioned, counterfeit, delegated, dummy, equivalent, ersatz, fake, imitation, indirect, makeshift, mock, phony, pinch, provisional, proxy, reserve, secondary, spare, stopgap, substitute, substituted, surrogate, temporary, tentative, token, utility |